“This was the franchise he was meant to do,” Franco says. “It lets him do the action, some humor, some scary stuff, all in one genre. And all through one person, Peter Parker, that he really associates with. None of us thought it would be this big, but no one deserved all of this more. He’s put his heart into this. He loves Peter Parker.”

Forget love, says Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays a flirtatious pal of Parker’s, Gwen Stacy. “He is Peter Parker. He’s this quiet, dapper guy when you meet him. Then he gets behind the camera and does these amazing things.”